Caroline Lucas said that Brighton Food Festival is WIN WIN WIN WIN – four wins for the city, including the environment – promoting local food and bringing down food miles; for tourism, bringing thousands to visit the city; for the local economy – adding £4million to the city’s economy and supporting local businesses; and for the local community – providing fun events for local people, as well as promoting good food for healthy living.

Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex, Peter Field, applauded the festival for ‘going international’ with its new international chef exchange and said that had helped with judges’ decision to select Brighton Food Festival to win the Leisure & Tourism Award at the Sussex Business Awards this year.

photo source: Julia Claxton

Festival organisers selected Sussex bubbly from Court Garden Vineyard in Ditchling to toast the launch of the ten-day festival which includes dozens of tasty events – see more attached and all details on www.brightonfoodfestival.com

Chair of the Festival, Roger Marlowe said: “This is our tenth festival and through that time we have promoted local food hard and it is now what the public wants – we’ve won that battle now and we want to focus on attracting people nationally and internationally to the city as a food destination. Despite the recession, people can still enjoy and treat themselves to good food.”

Public voting was also opened for the Brighton Foodie Awards, seeking the city’s favourite restaurant, food pub, cafe and independent food shop (vote at www.brightonfoodawards.com)